Tarantula Nebula

Tarantula Nebula

The Tarantula Nebula (also known as 30 Doradus or NGC 2070) is a massive H II region located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It lies approximately 160,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Dorado and is the most active starburst region in the Local Group of galaxies.

With an estimated diameter of 650 to 1,000 light-years, it is one of the largest and most luminous star-forming regions known. If it were as close as the Orion Nebula (~1,344 light-years), it would cast visible shadows on Earth and span a significant portion of the night sky.

At its heart lies the dense star cluster NGC 2070, which includes the compact core R136—home to some of the most massive and hottest stars known. The nebula also hosts older clusters like Hodge 301, contains the remnants of Supernova 1987A, and is the site of VFTS 243, an X-ray quiet black hole outside the Milky Way.

Its name comes from the spider-like appearance of its dusty filaments in deep telescope images.